


Evolutions, Mutations and the Unmasking of one Masquerade

by Hydranoid413



Series: Bakugan sequel fics (Alice-centric) [1]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Canon Compliant, Complete, Gen, My First Work in This Fandom, No Romance, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Unofficial Sequel, What Was I Thinking?, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26061982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hydranoid413/pseuds/Hydranoid413
Summary: Set after Mechtanium Surge, a new brawler with two Alpha Hydranoids has appeared claiming to be the legendary Masquerade. With Dan and Drago off to who knows where, it's up to Alice and her friends to expose this faker!
Series: Bakugan sequel fics (Alice-centric) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992802
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Six-headed hydra

The vault behind him was secure, and he knew it. Four years ago, in the countryside near Moscow, the wreckage of what appeared to be a giant robotic hydra had turned up outside of an old man’s house. The Russian government had quickly gathered up as much as they could and hid it in this vault, the Zmey Gorynych vault, before attempting to piece back together the alien technology.

The guard suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck, and then fell unconscious. When he came to, the vault was open and alarms were blaring. He didn’t know it yet, but the contents had been stolen by a masked man…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to Bakugan City News, where all we talk about is Bakugan!” read out the host.

“We’ll get to other news later, but right now we’re asking what everyone else is: why has Masquerade returned now, after having mysteriously disappeared seven years ago?”

“There are many theories about his identity-“ Runo turned off the tv.

“Don’t listen to them, we know it’s not the real one. It must be a faker!” she consoled Alice.

“But what if he really **has** returned, without me knowing? Once we found out the first time I’d been terrified how he’d been able to take control at any moment, and how many Bakugan he’d been sending to the Doom Dimension, and if he’s back and malicious again, who knows how much he could do!” Alice was worried about it.

“Then we’ll beat him up until he goes away again!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fake Masquerade was in the middle of a brawl. Myriad Hades was already out on the Gate Card (still disguised as a Darkus Alpha Hydranoid), while he was about to throw the actual Alpha Hydranoid he had.

He’d used a mixture of Gundalian and Vestal technology to upgrade and repair the Mechanical Bakugan. While it was mostly identical on the outside (except for a snazzy new paint job), its internals had had a massive overhaul. He just needed to fix the issue where certain abilities used up all its power…

Hades was now a bit bigger though, so its disguise was starting to break. Already, he could see small patches of exposed metal underneath the fake skin. One good attack could potentially destroy the whole thing.

“Bakugan brawl! Hydranoid, stand!” he shouted, throwing the ball in his hand.

Now that he had two Bakugan on the Gate Card, he easily curb stomped his pathetically weak opponent. “Didn’t even break a sweat!” he bragged as the kid’s Ziperator went into his hand, captured by losing by more than 500 Gs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Julie, you’re a reporter now, right? Any chance you can get us in to see that Masquerade faker?” Runo’s voice came out of the phone.

“No can do! Even if I was allowed in the back, I wouldn’t be able to get you and Alice in! Y’know, privacy and stuff!” Julie said, shooting down one idea to expose the faker.

“Then I guess we’ll have to either challenge him to a battle or get him when he’s out in public!” Runo was a bit too excited about this. “We don’t have any Bakugan though, so we’ll need Alice’s grandfather to send us to New Vestroia.” she continued.

“DT Card, remember?” Julie thought she heard Alice say quietly in the background.

Through the phone came an “Alice, why are you grabbing my-“ before the other two girls appeared next to Julie, Alice holding up her DT Card in one hand and Runo’s forearm in the other.

“Runo, Julie, we’re going to New Vestroia.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three appeared at the top of a cliff, overseeing a large plain.

Julie started waving her arms towards something in the distance. “I think I can see Gorem! There’s some other Bakugan around him, but I don’t recognise them.”

Alice took hold of Runo and Julie again, and teleported down to where Gorem was. The other Bakugan turned out to be four of the old Resistance Bakugan. They knew Drago was off with Dan wherever they were, but Nemus was nowhere to be seen. Gorem had taken up mentoring them a few years back, after they destroyed The Alternative.

“Julie? Is that you?”

“Sure is, big guy! I’m looking forward to catch up with you, and your new friends!” she replied.

A large shadow was suddenly cast over them. The group looked up, to see a spaceship. Elfin, Percival, Ingram and Wilda could recognise the kind of ship it was, a Vestal one, although they didn’t know if it was friendly.

Four figures leapt down from it, two Bakugan and two Vestals.

Subterra Rex Vulcan and Darkus Infinity Helios shook the ground as they landed, Vestal partners on their shoulders, before they started brawling each other, Hammer Knuckles and Ragnarok Busters going everywhere.

Gorem interrupted by throwing his hammer in-between the two, which caught their attention and didn’t do much else.

“I recognise you two Vestals, or should I say… Vexos! You helped enslave us, and tried to genocide us!” he charged at them, using Gorem Punch. Vulcan and Helios dodged, and Spectra tried to explain the situation. “We betrayed Zenoheld, you fool! And that was before-“ A swing from Gorem’s picked back up hammer into Helios’ gut knocked him off. Gus directed Vulcan to grab him, just barely missing.

He hit the ground _hard_ , and the humans present ran over to him.

“I-is he still alive?” questioned Alice.

Her question was answered by Spectra getting up. “Unlike you weak humans, Vestals have some metal in our bones. Makes it much easier to walk something like that off.”

Gorem was still facing off Vulcan and Helios. It was quite admirable that he was still able to fight them, considering the large power gap between him and Vulcan, and the even greater one between Vulcan and Helios.

Gus finally noticed the Resistance Bakugan, recognising them immediately. “Vulcan, Helios, stop fighting him! He’s with the Battle Brawlers!”

“You know the Battle Brawlers?” exclaimed Gorem and the human girls simultaneously.

“Know them? Master Spectra was one!”

“We were, too, and these humans.” added one of the Resistance Bakugan. Alice didn’t recognise which one it was by voice.

“Why are you here? I thought only the Bakugan lived here.” asked Gus.

“We could say the same about you and your master!” snarked Runo.

“For your information, _miss_ , we were here to train Vulcan and Helios, before Gorem here interrupted.” he snarked back.

Alice stepped in. “We’re here because there’s a brawler on Earth pretending to be Masquerade, who was a split personality of mine years ago, and he’s taken Hydranoid!” Everyone could see that she was passionate about wanting to get back her Bakugan.

“Sounds like a good fight! Helios, wanna take out the former top Earth brawler?” Spectra asked, Helios nodding. “We’ll help out then!”

“We will too!” announced Wilda. “We fought to save Hydranoid once, and we’ll do it again!” Elfin, Percival and Ingram nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they were all onboard the Vestal Destroyer, Spectra told them about his recent project.

“Me and Gus call it a ‘Turbine Spinner’. Theoretically, if we built it into a Mechanical or cyborg Bakugan, it’d be able to use Ventus abilities even though it’s not Ventus. The only one left who’s compatible is Helios though, and although I’m sure he wouldn’t care about the risk, I don’t want to weaken him with a potentially useless upgrade, so we need another Mechanical Bakugan to trial it.”

Then he went into a very technical description of what exactly it did. Alice was the only one who understood everything, Runo and Julie both nodding occasionally and pretending to know what he was talking about.

As he spoke, Gus warped the ship to Earth.

“Anyway, we need to divvy up Bakugan. Me and Gus already have Helios and Vulcan respectively, so we don’t need more, although I’m sure Gus wouldn’t say no to a second one.”

“Gorem’s going with me, obviously, and I think I’ll partner up with Wilda too.” The two Bakugan hopped onto Julie’s shoulders.

“There aren’t any Haos Bakugan, so I think I’ll go with Elfin!” Runo was still very enthusiastic.

“Percival, want to go with me?” The tiny knight nodded and went over to Alice.

“I guess that leaves me and Shadow Wing then, huh?” said Ingram.

“There are no Ventus brawlers here, so I guess I’ll claim you two.” said Gus.

As the _Vestal Destroyer_ orbited the Moon, the three humans, two Vestals and eight Bakugan knew the fight would be long and hard, but worth it.


	2. Six-headed hydra

The crowds were cheering. Mostly for her opponent, but a few for her.

He was back, somehow. He was a seperate being from her, _somehow_. He was one of the top ranked brawlers in the world, **_somehow_**.

Percival stood on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Hydranoid back.”

Both her and her opponent selected their Bakugan, and Masquerade played his Gate Card.

“Percival, stand!” “Hydranoid, stand!”

The knight and the hydra both formed into their true bodies, ready to brawl.

“Knight Percival at: 600 Gs. Alpha Hydranoid at: 700 Gs.” announced the computer.

“Ability activate! Phaser Trident!” Hydranoid fired a beam from each mouth as his brawler held up a card.

All three beams impacted into Percival, halving his G-power. Alice countered with Geor Gunner, pumping her Gauntlet into the air as Percival’s chest released a surge of energy.

Her joy was short lived, when the masked man used two abilities, knocking Percival back down to 300 Gs and boosting Hydranoid further. Seconds before the round ended, she quickly activated Stray Thunder to raise his G-power enough to not lose him permanently.

“And that’s the end of round 1, ladies and gentlemen! Masquerade wins this round, but can Alice make a comeback?!” said the announcer as both Bakugan went back to their brawlers, Hydranoid into Masquerade’s hand and Percival at Alice’s feet.

“Don’t give up! We still have 300 life points before we lose, Alice!”

Starting the second round, Alice threw down her Gate Card, then tossed Percival back in.

Immediately she used Geor Gunner again, then followed it up with Deathly Karbia. Percival charged up his sword, then slashed it at Hydranoid, the purple flames… burning his skin off?

“Not again!” groaned Alice, remembering the incident from three years ago Shun had told her about.

Myriad Hades roared as the artificial covering turned to ash.

“Gate Card, open!” said Alice, which revealed Darkus Reactor… which was pointless, since both Bakugan got boosted.

Masquerade held up an ability card, the first one he’d played this round. “Ability activate! Chaos Leap Sting!” he yelled, before flicking his finger to reveal a second card behind it. “Consecutive ability, activate! Full Burst!”

Alice remembered the second ability as well, from that time Chan Lee helped her fight Shadow Prove. It was powerful, but it drained all of Hades’ power supply, so if Percival withstood it…

The spikes on Hades’ chest unfolded to reveal a trio of cannons. As well as them, its knee, tail, shoulder and mouth cannons all prepared to fire.

Percival drew his cape halves around to defend himself, but he knew it wouldn’t last.

As the thirteen laser beams hit Percival, he started… glowing? Alice, about to use an ability, saw the card in her Gauntlet glow as well.

Both of them began to change. Percival’s armour changed shape and his cape halves merged back into one, becoming more resistant to attacks. The ability card changed from Black Out to one she’d never seen, Lunar Eclipse.

It did the same thing though.

Hades’ G-power dropped massively, allowing the newly evolved Midnight Percival to recover and defeat it with one swipe from his sword.

“Alice wins round two and the battle!” she heard the announcer shout out.

Percival and Hades both reverted back into balls into her hand. They’d won Hades from Masquerade, but were no closer to getting Hydranoid back.

She used her DT Card to teleport back to the _Vestal Destroyer_ , not noticing Masquerade use one of his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gus was excited when Alice teleported into the bridge. “Master!” he eagerly shouted, not having noticed her arrival “The Turbine Spinners are ready for installation!”

A silver, black and purple ball whizzed past his face. “We can use Hades as the guinea pig, won it from that fake Masquerade.” replied Alice.

“Good thing me and Gus built two Turbine Spinners, then.” Spectra grinned as he caught the Mechanical Bakugan.

“We’ll be able to evolve both Hades and Helios, and Ingram’s close to evolving too. Runo reported that she reckons Elfin’s going to soon as well.”

Cracking his knuckles, Spectra smirked “With Bakugan this powerful, Masquerade won’t stand a chance!”

“If they’re so close to evolving, why don’t Ingram and Elfin have a battle while Spectra and Gus install the Turbine Spinners?” suggested Runo as she walked in.

“Excellent idea!” said Ingram, hopping off Gus’ shoulder and into Alice’s hands.

Alice grabbed Runo’s wrist before teleporting both of them to the top deck of the ship, which had space for brawls. The orange haired girl launched her Gate Card from her Gauntlet, both threw their Bakugan, and the brawl begun!

Alice started off with Wind Split, creating several duplicates of Ingram and draining some of Elfin’s G-power into him.

In response, Elfin changed her attribute to Haos, then Runo held her ability card up. “Ability activate! Sun Reflector!”, she said, more than making up for the lost Gs.

“Consecutive ability, activate! Ding Dong Ditch!” A second ability weakened Ingram, so Alice decided to send in Shadow Wing.

The two combined straight away, Shadow Wing transforming into several wings, and boosted his G-power back up.

Alice and Runo used a few more abilities, bouncing Ingram and Elfin’s Gs up and down, before the former decided to open her Gate Card, draining away G-power into Ingram.

With a karate chop to the back, Elfin was defeated, and all three Bakugan returned.

Runo flung her Gate Card down, then tossed in Elfin again.

Alice sent Ingram back in, then used Wind Power Extreme, sending him flying towards Elfin and draining her Gs again. Then she threw in Shadow Wing but didn’t combine them, waiting to see what Runo would do.

Unfortunately, Runo decided to open her Gate Card (Forcement Enemy), then used Hyper Bubble Shield, boosting Elfin massively, weakening Ingram, and reducing Shadow Wing to 0 G-power.

Twin Fangs- Great Divine Wing brought Shadow Wing’s G-power back in the positive, and buffed Ingram back up, but Elfin just changed to Ventus and blew them away with Wing Harrier, before evolving with a glow to Dual Elfin just to rub it in. Alice thought she saw a small purple glow separate from Elfin, but decided it was unimportant.

For the third round, Alice decided to use a quite powerful Gate Card, Change Link Force.

Elfin was thrown in, and her new roulette spinners turned her into a Pyrus with only 550 Gs, making her even weaker than how she was as Minx Elfin.

Both her and Runo had much to say about this, but we want to keep the G rating.

“Never mind, we can still win!” boasted Runo as she activated three abilities at once. “Consecutive ability, activate! Chatty Clutter! Hyper Bubble Shield! Ripple Trap!”

The first duplicated Elfin many times, all of the copies rambling about something or other, pushing Elfin’s Gs from just below Ingram to much over. The second created a shield of water around them, transferring 400 Gs from Ingram to her. The third made the ground ripple like a pond after dropping a stone in it, blocking Alice from using any ability cards.

“What are you going to do now, Alice? Elfin’s more than 1000 Gs over and you can’t use any abilities!” In her confidence, Runo forgot about Shadow Wing. And the entire concept of Gate Cards.

“Gate Card, open! Change Link Force!” This bounced the last ability used by the opponent back at them, allowing Alice to spam abilities with Runo and Elfin unable to do anything until Ingram ended the battle in one hit.

To rub it in back, he evolved to Cosmic Ingram.

Shadow Wing’s ball form glowed as well as Ingram, before shooting forward and merging with him into the new evolved form, leaving Ingram with permanent wings once again.

He went back into ball form, and all four went back to the bridge. Helios was happy, in his own way, about the new upgrade, while Hades was unresponsive. “It’s not as good as being combined with those Maxus Bakugan from years ago, since I can’t use Pyrus, Aquos, Subterra or Haos, but more power is always a good thing!”


	3. Penta-head problems

This was it. The final battle.

The fake Masquerade had accepted a challenge for a 4 v 1 brawl against Alice, Julie, Runo and Gus. If they won, they’d likely win Hydranoid back. Alice didn’t want to think about what might happen if they lost.

The masked impostor sent out his Gate Card, then all five brawlers launched their Bakugan.

Chances looked good for them. Hydranoid may have been considered powerful years ago, but now having a G-power of only 550 didn’t cut it. Having four opponents wouldn’t help either.

Masquerade held up a single card. “Destroy Vanish.” he almost whispered.

Hooked cables launched from Hydranoid’s wings and latched onto the other Bakugan. Next thing the four brawlers knew, all four of their Bakugan were in Masquerade’s hand, disappearing with him as he held his DT Card in the other.

He reappeared in his lair on Gundalia, and began preparations for an experiment. A pair of transparent canisters lay off to the side, both filled with energy and one connected via a tube to something unseen.

Percival’s ball was magnetically held in place by a machine, then a tube from each canister was connected to it. As Percival was hovering from the magnetism, two halves of a glass sphere closed around him.

The sphere began to fill up with energy from both of the canisters, and Percival began to change. Instead of being a knight simply themed like a dragon, he had now become an actual dragon.

“AAAAARGH!” he screamed in pain. Masquerade ignored the weak, pathetic Bakugan, and got ready to mutate the other captured Bakugan.

He took off his mask, revealing pupilless blue eyes, and placed it down on a workbench. A shadowy figure reached down and took it once his back was turned.

The energy in the sphere had dispersed and Percival had mutated to Alpha Percival. The imitator took out the Bakugan and inspected him, before putting him back. “Only 130 more Gs? Maybe Percival will like more of these negative and chaos energies!”

Elfin, Ingram, Gorem and Hydranoid were placed in the sphere as well. The negative and chaos energies filled it again, mutating all five Bakugan.

The pain was intense, so they each tried to return to their natural forms to destroy the machine and stop it, but found they couldn’t. There must have been a Dimension Controller nearby.

After a few minutes all five were mutated and the fake Masquerade opened the sphere. With the five in hand, he moved to the stadium he’d built in his lair after starting the machine on building something. He tossed all but Titan Hydranoid and Quakix Gorem to the dummy brawler on the other side, and threw down his first Gate Card.

The dummy launched one of its own from its built-in card shooter, sending out Cyclone Percival onto Masquerade’s seconds later. As soon as he formed, the dragon/knight charged towards Masquerade, fully intending to kill him.

He sent out Hydranoid in response, who seemed to have gained a few meters in height. And a couple more heads. And lost his wings. And chest saw.

“Storm Blaze!” announced the dummy. A purple beam erupted from Percival’s chest, aimed at Masquerade, not Hydranoid. The five-headed hydra countered with Destruction Halberd, firing a beam from each mouth that easily knocked Percival out.

Both Bakugan reformed back into balls and went back, Masquerade throwing a Gate Card as he caught Hydranoid. This time he threw Gorem in, who had been mutated into a quadrupedal turtle-like beast, and the dummy responded with Flash Ingram. Ingram was now a dragon as well, having what looked like Razenoid’s face on his chest instead of the bird head of his previous forms.

The dummy shot another Gate Card next to its first one, and sent out Mutant Elfin onto it. She took a while to form into her real form, her ball’s top half spinning around until it landed on 800 Gs and Subterra.

Her newly mutated body was much closer to her previous form than Ingram or Percival, although it did have tentacles in place of hair.

Seemingly not intending to use any more abilities, the dummy sent out Percival again, against Gorem.

Percival, Elfin and Ingram began to glow…

Suddenly, they all reverted back into balls, but not their usual ball forms. Then the bottom half of each detached and swapped around, then attached to the top of another, and reformed.

“Darkus/Aquos Cyborg Percival at: 990 Gs. Ventus/Darkus Quicksilver Ingram at: 890 Gs. Aquos/Ventus Cyborg Elfin at: 940 Gs.” stated the dummy.

“What?! They can mutate with each other?” said Masquerade, panicked.

His question was answered by a blast of water and wind from Elfin, who in this form had robotic ear… things and Ingram’s six green wings (now blue).

“How!” exclaimed the maskless man, now soaking wet and rather cold. Ingram got his licks in with Thunder Breeze, launching two bolts of purple lightning from his wingtips. He now had four grey, robotic wings and tall shoulder pads (both from Percival), letting him use Darkus abilities.

Percival finished up with a Zoom Blade on the wall behind the false Masquerade, using the tail gained from Elfin as a substitute for his sword (lost from the mutations). He leaped up and grabbed onto Ingram’s leg as he escaped out the hole, while Elfin grabbed Gorem to try and save him as well.

“Oh no you don’t!” roared Masquerade as he sent out Hydranoid, who managed to catch Elfin’s leg in a mouth and crunched down hard. In pain, Elfin reflexively let go of Gorem, who was flung out the hole.

A sudden clunk from the machine in the main room notified him that “it” was ready.

The device on his wrist announced “Ready, Sawkill.” as glowing purple pieces of something Elfin didn’t recognise formed together. Masquerade grabbed the assembled thing and threw it at Hydranoid. “Battle Gear, boost!”

It turned out to form a giant buzzsaw on his back to replace the one lost by mutating. The extra power flowed through Hydranoid, who clamped down harder.

Masquerade saw something fall from the roof. Was it?… No, it couldn’t be his mask.

But it was.

The shadowy figure who had dropped it followed seconds later and leaped into the light, being seen for the first time.

“It’s time for Darkus Dual Elfin to save the day!”

The mostly black and purple Bakugan (who must have been a byproduct of evolving to Dual Elfin, Elfin realised) pulled out what seemed to be the ball form of a Mobile Assault.

She threw it down below her, and it formed into a massive tank with clawed arms, demolishing even more of the lair, the Darkus Bakugan cackling as she clambered up into the seat. The Axellor promptly began going berserk, knocking Aquos Elfin away from Hydranoid and letting her escape. Another swing of the arms defeated Hydranoid, reducing him back into a ball and falling down at Masquerade’s feet.

The (un)masked man decided to cut his losses, grabbing Hydranoid before teleporting away with his DT Card. With no opponents left, the Mobile Assault turned back to ball form, leaving Dual Elfin suspended in mid air briefly before falling down comically.

The escaped Bakugan found that they were underground. This would be unsurprising to a Gundalian, since the surface is barren and uninhabited, but the escapees had never even heard of Gundalia before, and so were quite shocked.

The mutated trio switched back the bottom half of their balls, returning to their non-cyborg, mutated forms. Gorem stayed as-is.

“Well, now what?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spectra and his group were quite worried. Masquerade capturing the four meant they had only Vulcan, Helios, Wilda and Hades to work with, making getting them back much harder.

It also meant that at least one of them would have to sit out every battle.

“Alice, take Hades for now until we recover them.” said Spectra.

When she questioned him, he continued “I already have Helios, so I don’t need another Bakugan, and its abilities are quite similar to Hydranoid’s, so battling with it should be almost like battling with him.” She nodded, and received the silver, black and purple sphere from him.

Gus added a point in “We could try and build something to upgrade more of our Bakugan! I’ve been thinking of a pair of upgrades; one that’d let a Bakugan use Haos abilities like the Turbine Spinners let Helios and Hades use Ventus ones, and one that’d change the upgraded Bakugan to another Attribute but still be able to use abilities of their original.”

“Do it!” Spectra said, pounding one fist into the other palm and grinning.

“I just need to come up with names…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The newly built (and named) Flare Cannon was soon ready. Wilda had volunteered to receive the upgrade. When Julie asked him why, he replied that he felt weak compared to the other Bakugan since he hadn’t evolved in years. “So this way, I can be as strong as the others, and maybe Mira-“ he caught himself. He’d nearly revealed how he felt about Mira leaving him behind for Roxtor after destroying The Alternative. She didn’t even battle with him, Marucho did that!

The other new upgrade, the Shadow Weight, was going to be built into Vulcan. As Gus incorporated it into his Bakugan’s feet, Vulcan’s colours started changing to black, purple and yellow. Now a Darkus Bakugan, he let out a ship-rattling roar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Masquerade and Hydranoid reappeared on Vestal, in a backup hideout underneath where King Zenoheld’s Vexos Motherpalace had been before he fled the planet in it. He was rather jumpy, watching the shadows with every step. If that Dual Elfin had managed to get in without him noticing, there could be anyone nearby and he’d never know.

“Heeeeeeey.” came a voice.

He jumped, swore, and started to run, but a rather froggy leg stopped him. Darkus Dual Elfin slinked out of the shadows and picked him up.

“I’ll be taking that!” she said as she grabbed his DT Card away and replaced it with his mask. Still holding him, she teleported the three of them to Earth.

Once there, Masquerade and Hydranoid were unceremoniously dropped to the ground. He looked around. There wasn’t civilisation to be seen for miles, only forest and cliff.

“Have fun!” went Dual Elfin as she teleported away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the caverns that the fake Masquerade’s main base had been, Ingram, Percival, Gorem and Mutant Elfin were still wandering. Every path seemed to lead to a dead end, and trying to find something useful in the lair was pointless, since they were too big to fit anywhere except the arena, and they couldn’t revert back to ball form since Gorem had been an opponent to the rest in the battle and he hadn’t defeated them or been defeated.

Dual Elfin warped in with her stolen DT Card, and told them to grab on. When they did, she used it to take them back to the _Vestal Destroyer_ , hiding in the shadows to not be seen by the humans and Vestals.

As she teleported away once again, she whispered a “Bye sis.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a couple of days of riding on Hydranoid’s shoulder through the forest, Masquerade had finally gotten back to a city, only to find he was on the wrong continent. It turned out he didn’t know the difference between a forest and a rainforest.

“Well, time to get swimming, Hydranoid.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time he had gotten back, multiple other people had overtaken his ranking on the leaderboards. He’d have to hack it again.

Immediately he decided to challenge Alice to one last brawl. If he lost, he’d reveal his real identity to the world. If he won… he’d decide that later.


	4. An enemy slain and a friend regained

Alice had decided to accept the fake Masquerade’s challenge. With Percival’s new evolution and Hades taken from him, it would be much easier to win back Hydranoid.

“Gate Card, set!” yelled the impostor.

She sent out Percival, who was… not exactly similar to his previous evolution, she realised, this being the first time she’d seen his real form. Several audience members recognised the species from Mag Mel’s attack on Intraspace.

The masked man threw out Hydranoid, as expected. What Alice had not expected was for Hydranoid to have evolved as well. The extra heads, lack of wings and saw, and increased size certainly made him look different.

She started off with Storm Blaze, then Zoom Blade, raising up Percival’s Gs by 500 right off the bat.

The fake Masquerade simply opened his Gate Card, Flat Power, knocking it right back down. He then used Elemental Storm, an ability she’d never seen, creating a massive thunderstorm over the arena. As Percival prepared to fight back, a stray lightning bolt hit him, causing him to go flying into a wall, and reverting him back to ball form.

80% of her life force gone, and only one round in. She needed an advantage. She needed the real Masquerade.

She threw out her own Gate Card and Percival again, then summoned Masquerade’s real mask in her hands. The faker was starting to look worried…

“See this, people? This is Masquerade’s real mask! This impostor’s not the real one, and I’ll prove it!”

She placed the mask on her face, feeling her hair and clothes change and her own mind hide away as Masquerade’s came out to play.

“Now, now, what’s this I’ve heard of an impostor? And he even has a Hydranoid? Well, I guess we’ll have to take him out!”

He used Storm Blaze, but the faker countered with Death Trident, before using Chaos Leap Sting. But Masquerade had a trump card. Having been watching Alice (not like that, perverts), he knew the Gate Card she’d played was Transducer, which would be an easy victory.

“Gate Card, open!”

Hydranoid’s G-power immediately started draining away into Percival. It had only been four seconds, and Percival already had a 200 Gs advantage.

The impostor tried using a Battle Gear on Hydranoid to boost his G-power back up, but all it did was delay the inevitable. Panicking, he forgot about Destroy Vanish which probably… wouldn’t have helped that much.

Percival flicked the weakened Hydranoid with one finger, defeating him and returning both to the real Masquerade.

Having lost the battle, the fake Masquerade took off his mask, revealing his pupiless blue eyes.

He started to explain exactly who he was. “My name is Lerna, servant of Mag Mel and the False Vestal. He created me alongside Anubias and Sellon, the False Gundalian and the False Neathian, but I was not for combat. I was the one who devised the machine that would let my master drain chaos energy from battles, and use it to escape his prison.”

The crowd was shocked, but he continued. “When he died, I fled, and began studying Masquerade, who I had realised I was physically identical to. I stole the remains of Hades from a vault on Earth and rebuilt it into Myriad Hades, then used it to defeat and capture Hydranoid on New Vestroia, who thought I was his brawler and as such was easy to defeat.”

“On Earth, I participated in many battles, using a replica of my machine to capture more chaos energy. On Gundalia, I had found the mythical Limited Core, counterpart to the also mythical Strident Core, and used its negative energy alongside the chaos energy to mutate Bakugan I captured. With those Bakugan, I had planned to overrun Earth and try and resurrect Mag Mel, but I suppose that won’t be happeniwhaaaat is that.”

The “what” was six balls of energy in the sky, which formed into six Bakugan. Some of the Gundalians and Neathians in the audience seemed to recognise them, and a few began to run.

One of them, a Darkus attributed humanoid, fired a purple bolt of energy out of its chest, disintegrating Lerna.

“For witnessing the glory of our Limited Core, we sentence you to death!” announced a Pyrus eastern style dragon.

The Ventus one, an insectoid monster, revealed their identities. “We are the Legendary Soldiers of Gundalia and Neathia, who created Neathia’s Strident Core and Gundalia’s Limited Core! The punishment for even seeing anything our Cores have created… is death!”

All six of them began attacking, the Darkus one blasting the stadium with another bolt.

Julie ran over from the side of the arena, having been reporting on the match, and the rest of the team warped in from the _Vestal Destroyer_ , having witnessed the live broadcast.

All five threw in their Bakugan, ready to defend Earth from the Legendary Soldiers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wilda fired a beam of Haos energy from his new Flare Cannon, built into his chest. It hit the Subterra Soldier, who rolled towards the heretic who dared to assault him!

“I am Rickoran, the Subterra Legendary Soldier of Gundalia. That was a mistake, fool.”

Wilda shut him up with another beam.

Gorem jumped onto the spider/car Bakugan, clawing at him and using his new vibration abilities to throw him off balance. Rickoran threw him off, and flung a wheel at each of the other two.

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Percival and Hades were facing off against the Darkus Soldier. The bolt that came from his chest seemed to almost be a second Bakugan, able to change direction and speed. More than once Percival had to deflect it with his tail head things.

“You can’t even defeat something with only 40 Gs? Weak. I am Dartaak, the Darkus Legendary Soldier of Gundalia, and you. Are. Nothing!”

Hades leapt up and unfolded its chest spikes. The cannons underneath fired, barely even distracting the fellow Darkus Bakugan.

Getting desperate, Percival decided to mutate with Elfin. Once they did, he left off a burst of water and electricity, not enough to defeat Dartaak.

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Ingram could just barely keep away from the Ventus Soldier. He thought he was fast, but it could easily match him in the speed department. Vulcan was firing off abilities in an attempt to help, but they were unlikely to land on his opponent. A lucky hit from the bug sent him spiralling towards the ground. “Need… more… speed!” he thought as he began to glow…

Ventus Boost Ingram leapt from the ground onto the Ventus Soldier’s back.

“Get off, pest! Do you know who I am? I’m Gyrazor, the Ventus Legendary Soldier of Gundalia!”

“Don’t care!” yelled Ingram as he leapt off again.

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Elfin and the Aquos Soldier were locked in hand to hand combat. Every ability one used, the other would counter, so they had no choice but to get physical. Her G-Power and Attribute roll had been unfavourable, making her an 850 Gs Haos Bakugan. 

Out of the shadows came a hand which grabbed the Aquos Soldier’s leg. “Heeeeey.”

“Get off me! I am Sprayzer, the Aquos Legendary Soldier of Neathia, and you cannot stop us!”

Dual Elfin strutted out, Axellor in hand. “Oh, really? I think you need to meet my little friend…” she said as she dropped the support piece in hand. The Mobile Assault formed around her and tore him away from her sister, who she gave a thumbs up.

Mutant Elfin mutated with Percival, and used the cyborg wings gained from the transformation to gain an aerial advantage. Her blast of Haos and Darkus energy certainly was powerful, but Sprayzer shook it off before countering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Pyrus Soldier was wrapped around Helios.

“Ah, the traitor. He’ll replace everything, even his own Attribute!” That last word came with a tighter squeeze.

“I had no need for Pyrus any more. I seek power, and if I must betray my Attribute for it, then so be it!” Helios retorted.

He let out a blast of wind with his Turbine Spinner, blowing off the dragon, before flying upwards and beckoning him to chase him.

“I am Olifus, the Pyrus Legendary Soldier of Neathia, and you must die!”

Helios kept going up and up, Olifus chasing him, until they got to the edge of space. Spectra had leapt off his shoulder, trusting in the metal in his bones, so it was just the two of them.

Exposed to the vacuum of space for the first time, he started glowing…

Darkus Orbit Helios was ready to fight against Olifus, and the rest of these evil counterparts to the Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia.

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The Haos Soldier, Aksela stood aside and observed. She hated to see the other Soldiers attack the innocent, for she did not believe that the Cores they had created were so sacred that even looking at something created by them was a sin, unlike the others. The other five were all very religious, and narcissist, since they worshipped themselves and the Cores they had created.

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Unable to use abilities without Spectra, Helios was soon defeated and fell back to Earth. The other Bakugan soon fell as well, and the Soldiers were nearly victorious.

“Look at this human, thinking he can defeat us six with just one Bakugan? Impossible!” scoffed Dartaak.

Unfortunately for them, the human was Masquerade and the Bakugan was Hydranoid, finally free from Lerna and ready to bust some heads.

“Darkus Titan Hydranoid, stand!”

“O-oh… that’s bigger than I thought.” Dartaak was beginning to regret his previous remark.

“Ability activate! Destroy Vanish!”

A grappling cable came out of each mouth (and one from the tail), one attaching to each Soldier. They were drawn closer, G-power dropping by the second.

Dartaak was very much regretting his previous remark.

Finally, all six reverted into balls into Masquerade’s hand, and their Attribute energies (which had made them much stronger than their opponents despite being similar G-powers) went into Hydranoid.

Five of the energies went one into each head, and the Darkus one levitated in front of him. His skin glowed, and he evolved into Maximus Hydranoid, a sixth head growing into the space where the Darkus energy was, and regaining his wings and multiple tails.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the incident with the Soldiers was over, Alice went to Neathia and asked Queen Fabia about them.

“In our mythology, they were a group of Bakugan, three from each planet, who had somehow heard of the Vestroian Soldiers and decided to copy them by creating Cores of their own, but were so egoistical that they demanded to be worshipped. Neither the Gundalians nor the Neathians liked that, so they summoned Dragonoid Colossus to banish them to another dimension.” the queen explained.

“I see. Good thing the Soldiers of Vestroia were much better than them, or they likely would have teamed up with Naga.” replied Alice.

“Naga?” enquired the queen, and Alice returned the favour by explaining that, but that is another tale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally didn't decide to add the soldiers while in the middle of writing this


End file.
